That is a direct quote from my girls today while sitting in an after school program for my third grader.  It’s like they really ratted me out pointing out to everyone within their voice range (which as children is not quiet) that I was all sweaty,

That is the marked difference between me and most of the other mothers at school.  I think it is likely that I am one of the oldest moms there with the mid-range being in their 30s.  I am as old as a lot of the grandparents that help their families and get their students at school at pickup.

I’m starting to realize as I am closer to turning 51 that my sweating has become very profound.  I think they are flashes of sorts without the red face.  I glisten from head to toe during one of these moments and it’s all the more embarrassing when your children point out to you the obvious with the whole world listening in.

It’s one of the things I had not planned ahead or thought about during our journey to parenthood.  I got married at 36 and our first daughter was entrusted into our family when I was 41 years old.  I don’t feel old in the sense of whatever old should feel like.  I am, however, starting to feel the difference in these instances how I stand apart from the other moms.

Being a mid-life mother has pluses and minuses.

The pluses being I can be a stay at home mom and be able to be there for our girls, assist as needed at their school and be the one who takes them to their extra activities.  The plus is I am older and wiser.  I was pretty narcissistic in my late 20s and 30s.  I’m not sure I’d be the same mother if I was that young.  The other plus is we were married for 7 years before becoming parents.  That’s longer than most before children start arriving, but for us it is what it was and it gave us a solid foundation for the trials and tribulations that were our family building pathways.

The minuses start with the symptoms that are becoming more profound in this last year including and not limited to these sweating flashes, insomnia, headaches and not always feeling like myself.  Being the older mom is not obvious on the outside due to the blessing of my genes but I do feel the gap in age when talking with some of the moms.

When do I start to tell my girls what causes all this sweat or do I?  We’ve been talking to them about what will be happening for them in the next few years as they reach puberty through some great books – The Care and Keeping of You 2 and It’s not the Stork.  Do we start reading them books on menopause just as they are learning about puberty?  There are no parenting books about this I’m sure,  at least not yet!

So for now I ponder this sweaty balance I am in, and I am sure I first will ask my girls to not shout out the obvious especially while we are in public and then I will give them some info on why Mommy is so sweaty now and again.